Dierks Bentley warms up for Saskatoon show
Dierks Bentley didn’t mince words when he described what his newest tour was all about.
“Fun. Just having really, a lot of fun,” he said over the phone.
“Last year, I put a lot of discipline things on myself ... I’m just totally going to have a great time and take the governor off everything.”
The country music star’s Burning Man tour kicked off in Hamilton on January 17, and will make its way to the Sasktel Centre in Saskatoon on January 23. The tour features a mix of Bentley’s old favourites as well as some new hits from his most recent album (titled The Mountain) released last summer.
Perhaps best known for some of his more recent hit singles (including Drunk on a Plane, Somewhere on a Beach, and Woman, Amen), Bentley’s illustrious career of over 15 years features music that is both touching and funny. And now he’s bringing those talents back to Canada for the first part of his latest stadium tour.
Bentley said he wanted to really enjoy himself on this tour, and he certainly had a lot of fun starting it off with a hilariously well-shot promo video for Burning Man On Ice that featured the country singer skating around in a glittering and feathered figure skating outfit.
“We’ve always done some really funny tour announce videos,” he said. “It was fun. And that’s the idea — don’t take yourself too seriously and have a good time.”
It’s one of the things that Bentley has embraced throughout his 15-year professional career: a good sense of humour and fun in what he does. And the newest tour through Canada is just one more opportunity to have tons of fun.
There’s a lot on his cross-canada to-do list. Curling in Ottawa? Check. Skiing near Banff? Check. Fishing north of Edmonton? Bentley said it’s in the schedule.
And of course, there’s the big concerts that he hopes will really blow the audience away.
“For a show to have an overall vibe of walking away inspired and feeling just really good, you have to have the roller coaster ride,” he said. “The highs and lows, the happy and the sad — I feel like our show has all of that.”
Bentley said he’d always have fond memories of Saskatoon as the
place he played one of his earliest Canadian concerts. One of his old guitarists studied at the University of Saskatchewan, so they made a point of playing a big show at Louis’ on campus. Bentley jokingly said the staff told him afterwards it was the loudest show they’d ever hosted.
“We just blew the roof off that place — it was so fun,” he said with a laugh.
The first part of the Burning Man tour will take Bentley across Canada to Vancouver before heading south into the United States. But Bentley said he loves the chance to come and play for Canadian audiences whenever he can.
For Bentley, Canadians seem to be “loud and passionate” (he said people don’t usually bring big poster board signs to concerts anywhere but Canada) but also more thoughtful and “very appreciative” of his music.
And for a guy looking to get pure enjoyment on this tour, he feels like he’s in the right place.
“Canadian audiences are awesome,” he said. “Whatever it is, it’s really a unique experience. And so fun.”